Eisenkot Defends Palestinian Israeli Citizens While Refusing Them a Seat at His Table

Israel's PM-designate condemns Netanyahu's anti-Arab campaign as 'an anti-state act' — but rules out governing with the very Arab-led parties whose 19 seats could hand him a comfortable majority.

Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief tasked with forming Israel's next government, has publicly accused outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of orchestrating a 'racist and violent campaign of delegitimisation' against Palestinian citizens of Israel. The statement, posted on X, marks the sharpest rhetorical break between the two rivals on the question of Israel's Arab minority.

The political arithmetic is clear and contradictory. Eisenkot's four-party alliance holds 48 seats. Arab-led parties hold a record 19. Together, they command 67 seats — six more than the 61 needed for a majority. But Eisenkot has explicitly ruled out forming a government with those parties, choosing instead to court the two ultra-Orthodox factions, United Torah Judaism and Shas, which would give him exactly the minimum 61-seat threshold. This is the structural tension at the heart of Israeli coalition politics, laid bare: Palestinian citizens of Israel constitute 21 percent of the population and delivered an unprecedented electoral result, yet the politician defending their legitimacy treats their political representatives as untouchable coalition partners. Eisenkot's own framing — 'one can even feel deep revulsion toward some of them' — reveals the boundaries of his defence. He is protecting the sector's civic standing while reinforcing their exclusion from governance. Netanyahu's tactics are familiar. He made unproven allegations of electoral fraud targeting Arab-majority parties — claims Israel's own electoral authorities rejected. He demanded Arab-led parties label Hamas a 'terror group,' despite all party leaders having condemned the October 7 attack. These are delegitimisation tools designed to make a fifth of the citizenry politically radioactive. The security dimension complicates everything. Netanyahu is reportedly weighing renewed strikes on Iran, opposed by the United States, Israel's military establishment, and Eisenkot himself. Eisenkot met with Netanyahu and his military secretary on Thursday to discuss the security situation, providing no details. The caretaker prime minister retains military authority during the transition, creating a window for escalation that Eisenkot cannot yet close. Eisenkot's offer to include Netanyahu and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in his coalition reveals the real hierarchy of acceptable partners. Ultra-Orthodox parties and the far right are negotiable. Arab-led parties are not. The rhetorical defence of Palestinian Israelis coexists with a structural refusal to share power with them — a pattern that predates Netanyahu and will outlast him. The six-week clock for government formation is ticking. Eisenkot needs either ultra-Orthodox buy-in or a political earthquake. If he fails, Israel returns to elections — and the same 19 Arab-led seats will once again be treated as both indispensable and inadmissible.